Thomas Chandy scoffs at rumours of joining KC(B)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Terming the speculations of joining the Kerala Congress(B) as totally baseless, NCP MLA Thomas Chandy said that he had no plans to join a Kerala Congress splinter group. “Reports that I am joining the KC(B) are totally baseless. I do not have such helplessness to join the KC(B), which is just a tail of the Kerala Congress parties. I am not eager to become a minister. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had asked me directly to join the UDF and the same request was placed before NCP national president Sharad Pawar. But we have not taken any decision in that direction as we feel that the timing is not apt now. Then why should I tie-up with Pillai?” he asked the Express when contacted. There were rumours that R Balakrishna Pillai, KC(B) chairman, had started efforts to upset the applecart of his son and Minister K B Ganesh Kumar  and replace him in the Cabinet with Thomas Chandy. Balakrishna Pillai, who was serving a jail term in a corruption case during the last Assembly election, was the first to start rebellion against Ganesh Kumar in the party. Soon after his release from the prison he rebuked Ganesh KumaQr in his first party meeting for acting unmindful of the party’s interests.  Asked about the factional feud in the party, KC(B) general secretary Venugopalan Nair said that it was the transparent nature of Ganesh Kumar that upsets his colleagues in the party. “He is not succumbing to pressures from a section of party leaders. Then there is nothing strange about a standoff between the father and son, it is natural in a family,” Venugopalan Nair said.  However, UDF Convener P P Thankachan said that he was not aware of any such move by Balakrishna Pillai. “Why should we get anxious about it?” Thankachan asked. Balakrishna Pillai and Ganesh Kumar were unavailable for comments as both of them were out of station on Friday.